


Verses

by distantgreen



Category: Free!, Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball, ダイヤのA | Daiya no A | Ace of Diamond
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Middle Earth Setting, Angst, M/M, Prose Poem, Sharks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-20
Updated: 2016-08-24
Packaged: 2018-08-09 20:44:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7816591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/distantgreen/pseuds/distantgreen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sports anime poemfic hell. Various fandoms/pairings/characters.</p><p>1. SouRin (F!)<br/>2. MuraHimu (KnB), Middle Earth AU<br/>3. MiyuSawa (DnA)<br/>4. MayuAka (KnB), fantasy AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. SouRin - Shiver

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SouRin. Of sharks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't written anything in m o n t h s because rl business so I decided I'd try to get back in the swing of things by doing something I've literally never tried before (poemfic) aaand
> 
> it just turned into this awful angsty Sousuke mess ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ I'm sorry

Even here, with distance between them, the sun reminds him every single day  
Of everything that he misses,  
Everything else that it shines down on:  
The same sun,  
The same light,  
The same warmth,  
That feels so impossibly cold against his skin now,  
Probably feels like ice for him, and him alone.  
  
He tries to ignore its reflections  
Skimming along the surface of the water, scattering images into the sky:  
Sharp teeth, cutting into soft skin  
And sharper eyes, cutting into softer spaces,  
Places other people weren’t ever supposed to see.  
  
_Don’t_  
_Make promises you can’t keep_ ,  
He tells himself, but it’s too late for that, and too  
Late for so many other things.  
  
The sand beneath his feet scratches, trying to drag  
The memories right out of him and he knows,  
He leaves a trail of bitterness in his steps,  
But the sand is sweet and warm and impossible to fight.  
  
The waves breaking along the coast beckon -  
_There are sharks waiting in these waters_.  
But sharks are nothing new, he’s already seen one  
With all of its hunger,  
All of its everything,  
Everything that he doesn’t deserve and doesn’t understand,  
Jaws wrapping around him  
Like the hunger is directed here, and here alone,  
Like he is something  
That matters.  
  
So he swims with them, dives headfirst into crashing waves that  
  
  
swallow  
  
  
Like jaws lined with so much danger.  
_It’s dangerous to go alone_ ;  
But his bubbling laughter beneath the surface blows  
The warning away into the depths.  
  
_If they smell weakness,_  
_They will come_.  
And he is so,  
So,  
Very weak,  
He knows this,  
So very weak, and they flock to his offering in gratitude.  
  
So he plunges deeper into the den,  
Den swirling with countless gnashing teeth,  
Teeth that drag against yielding flesh,  
And salt seeps into open wounds  
As if trying so desperately to burn away that which is no longer of use.  
  
_It’s dangerous_.  
But it was dangerous from the start, he reminds himself:  
The danger isn’t now, it was years ago,  
In that first flash of crimson against the sun,  
In the first loud snap of a jaw into the summer air;  
The rest is just the taking of what is rightfully theirs.  
  
And it’s only after he’s dragged his body back out of the water’s grip  
(And it pulls, pulls so tightly against him, because he is already theirs)  
That he feels the throbbing in his shoulder again.  
He wants to laugh, loud and harsh against the glare of the sun but he  
Can’t,  
So he doesn’t;  
Just lays against the greedy sand, pulling his pain to the surface again already,  
And watches the sunlight that turns into radiance and laughter where it meets the ocean.  
  
He’ll be back tomorrow,  
And again, the next day,  
And it will go on and on this way, until he sees it, finally,  
The one face that he hopes he might find within their frenzy,  
Red eyes  
To drag him back down into the depths where he might stay,  
Devoured in that hunger that calls out to him,  
And him alone.


	2. MuraHimu - Leaffall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> MuraHimu, Middle Earth AU. Of elves and forests.

It is not with conscious thought that it begins, but a trail of slumber,  
Days blurred together, until  
In one of them, he wakes, the trunk firm and unyielding against his back;  
And although he has returned here so many times already, this day is the first  
That he opens his eyes and sees the blossoms:  
Lavender, high above, scattered like small stars across a viridian sky.  
_Did they bloom for me?_  
  
Hands reach up against a background of trembling green,  
Slender fingers grasping at nothing until the branches  
Shift  
So slightly,  
Reaching out to grasp back, dusty bark against pale skin.  
  
And then there’s a sigh carried on the breeze,  
Black strands flutter, obscuring his vision and everything  
Freezes.  
  
_How does the dream vanish so quickly?_  
He blinks, desperately,  
But it’s just wind and sky and empty hands grasping at whispers in the air.  
  
He wishes he could watch through closed eyes, too,  
Because it’s always the same when they’re open –  
Brown and green surrounding his body, like an embrace,  
A place of safety,  
And he thinks the scent of purple that dances through his dreams  
Must be the flowers  
Wandering down to greet the gentle puffs of his breath into the quiet afternoon.  
  
But the forest is not a child,  
And secrets are not surrendered so easily.  
So he waits, shadows shimmering across sleeping features,  
Long hours as the sun dims  
And sets, leaving him to return home empty-handed.  
  
The trees are patient here, he learns, and he learns beside them  
Of solitude and resolve,  
Of foundations built so far, far within the earth  
That even he, with all the passing of his many years,  
Knows nothing as the trees have seen it.  
  
And so it is that alone, he might not have felt it,  
Might never have known,  
But beneath a field of purple flowers,  
The knowledge shows itself.  
  
Our time is coming to an end.  
The magic is retreating, waves of a receding  
Ocean ebbing our strength away and back into the great flow.  
Our time is ending, he knows, but no longer wastes resistance against the inevitable,  
Because he has learned this much from long days lying in the shade:  
Some things are best left as they are.  
  
The purple blossoms begin to drip, one by one, from the branches above and  
The days, too, can be counted this easily.  
  
But these roots run deep, deep within this earth,  
And so sprawled as they are within the world, they toil to draw upon what power is left,  
Gathering it until it pulses beneath his body,  
Humming  
A heartbeat of air and water and _fire_ ,  
A torch burning against his back in the dead of night,  
A river coursing beneath his fingertips as they trail through the soil.  
  
And the days,  
Though counted easily,  
Are not so empty after all.


	3. MiyuSawa - all these skies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> MiyuSawa. Of pitches and catches.

All it takes is one  
Bond  
They say you can’t build overnight, but he does it in a fraction of a day anyway because  
That’s just how he does things, and it’s not elegant it’s not perfect but it’s bright,  
Like a sunrise across the mound,  
You can see that much from where you sit, so you hang on tight to this new  
_Partner_ ,  
Grip the ball hard between your fingers and squeeze, like  
Your life depends on it  
(And maybe it will, someday).  
  
Two hundred swings;  
Or is it three?  
You lost count hours ago, honestly, it doesn’t matter just keep swinging until your hands break  
And maybe you can swing this feeling wide away into the night.  
There’s rain against your lenses but it doesn’t hide a damn thing,  
The sun still shines in memory  
So bright, bright  
And you laugh at yourself for thinking you could ever dim that.  
  
Four seams to hold you in place are cultivated carefully over the years, just so,  
But they start to come apart as you watch helplessly,  
Fraying, because it’s hitting you over and over and the pressure is too hard too fast too much.  
_Unacceptable_  
That someone should lodge so deep,  
It’s weakness, it’s not your  
Job  
So you grin, all teeth and no substance and hope no one else notices that the stitches are just  
Not quite right anymore.  
  
Cutter  
Comes slicing through the air, the sound of his voice so sharp and clear,  
Pulled along by the wind and it reaches everywhere, every ear on the team can hear it,  
Trying to keep their doubts at bay, shaving away at them with every throw.  
But it takes you too long to realize that the cuts aren’t just  
Here, they’re there, too,  
Wounds opening up beneath the wind and sky and you missed it,  
Gaping so obviously in front of your eyes but you’re  
_Not good enough not strong enough just stupid_  
_So, so stupid not you not you at all but me that couldn’t_  
_Save_  
_You_  
  
_Sorry._  
  
Can’t say it, though, can’t  
Launch it back with what you wish you could tell him so you just  
Do what you’ve always done and keep staring into the sun  
(Idiot; your vision is bad enough).  
  
Fastball  
Is a hit to the face:  
(Are you a catcher or aren’t you? You really should have seen that one coming.)  
Brown eyes and warm breath and it’s sudden and too much  
Because he kisses just like he throws.  
  
And it’s pitch after pitch this way and you can’t  
Stop it once it starts, the reflexes kick in and you  
Catch  
Every single thing he launches from that mound, breath and eyes and all.  
And he lands the shots so perfectly, every one  
Moves in all the right ways and he hits right where you’re weakest,  
And you’re so afraid you’ll come undone  
If he keeps this up but maybe you’re invincible, too;  
Maybe.  
So you take it and you try to fill the gaps this way,  
Ball upon ball, and it works like you always knew it should.  
  
_How do you do it? How do you lead the sun?_  
This is how: trailing across the sky, blazing by as it was meant to all along.  
A smile plays behind the mask –  
_Not me this time but you all you and I’ll_  
_Never look away again_ –  
And the sun cries out, roaring, because  
All these skies are ours for the taking.


	4. MayuAka - the voice in the wind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> MayuAka, fantasy AU. Of ~~Targaryens~~ fire and blood.

Conqueror, they called him,  
When he set foot on your doorstep,  
When you found yourself following behind  
In spite of every reason not to.  
  
“You’re a strange creature,” he murmurs,  
Claws on bare skin burning away flesh;  
You swear you can see smoke in the air,  
And you’ll be nothing but bone and ash, soon.  
  
_What’s with that eye?_  
“It’s dragon’s blood,” he smirks,  
And you’ll believe it, because  
You’ve seen his gaze set entire cities ablaze.  
  
They don’t understand why you don’t  
Fear him, the way you’re supposed to;  
_Dragons too can bleed._  
He laughs, and the blood is bittersweet in your mouth.  
  
He sees you hesitate sometimes,  
The way your sweaty grip slips  
As you readjust the blade in your hands,  
So his lips breathe the fire back into your eyes.  
  
“We’ll be kings.” Red banners snap overhead,  
Wild wings whipping through the cold dawn air,  
Their shadows darkening the soil beneath your feet  
With death and victory. “We’ll be kings.”  
  
The ocean comes and it, too, is not enough,  
Evaporating away in the night; what  
Happened here, they wonder, and only you know  
Of the shadow that slithers in the dark, drinking it dry.  
  
The mountains rise in challenge but they cannot  
Hold out against the fire,  
Melting snow and rock and storm, and only you know  
Of the way he smiles against your neck at the sight.  
  
_What happens when we find something else?_  
Blood drips, ripping apart the earth at your feet.  
_What if it’s stronger than you?_  
“Then we’ll all burn out together.”  
  
So he soars, cuts the clouds apart like ribbon, and you  
Watch from below, hoping these wings are enough;  
_Don’t rise too high._  
“No dragon fears the sun or sky.”  
  
And your footing grows less stable  
As you follow the climb, higher and higher –  
( _But I am not a dragon_ ) –  
The point of your sword dragging through the dirt.  
  
It’s your heart that he wanted all along:  
“We draw our strength from it.”  
_You can have it_ ; you try not to laugh,  
But the taste is bittersweet and a bit too strong.  
  
They don’t understand why you let him  
Devour you the way you do,  
The smoke seeping out from under your skin;  
“It’s only a little farther.”  
  
And the sweat soaks into the banner at your back, dripping,  
Red river running back down along the slope.  
These paths were not meant for men such as you, but  
_We’ll burn out together._


End file.
